Looking for the real Anthony Albanese

Is he a (younger) version of Joe Biden: a lifetime politician at the centre of parliamentary and party power plays for decades, but still an unknown quantity?

Anthony Albanese is trying to dismiss the attacks as rants and fantasy. Picture: NCA Newswire/Gary Ramage

Is Anthony Albanese Australia’s (younger) version of Joe Biden: a lifetime politician who has been at the centre of parliamentary and party power plays for decades, even held the No.2 job in the nation and now heads his political party, but still an unknown quantity?

After each politician’s election at a young age and decades as a representative, including junior parliamentary and cabinet experience, in and out of government, is it possible people don’t know who they are, what they stand for and what they have achieved?

For the US President this public realisation has come after he attained the top job, but for the Opposition Leader it is starting to become apparent with less than 100 days to the election in which he is favoured to become prime minister.

In recent months Albanese’s history of blending into the background of the political process and being an internal party warrior has led to him writing his own political history in newspapers and inserting into interviews references to his service as deputy prime minister, infrastructure minister and parliamentary leadership.

He literally has had to tell the public what he has done while in parliament.

Ironically, the public is more familiar with his private life as a young boy reared by a single mother in public housing who worked and relied on help from the Catholic Church to put him through school.

Even the fact there is a blank on his birth certificate under “father” has been well ventilated as he fended off constitutional citizenship questions because his father was an Italian ship steward.

Coupled with his long-term strategy of appearing on soft lifestyle FM radio programs talking about his favourite television shows as a child, the pop music of his teens, his preferences in ice cream, his perform­ances as a DJ, his advocacy of craft beer and support for rugby league’s South Sydney Rabbitohs there is a reasonable, positive picture of the person who is Albo.

It is a story of the battler made good who has risen from humble beginnings to stand poised to become the leader of the nation.

But there isn’t enough of a public political profile of Albanese for voters who have to make a choice between the Labor leader and Scott Morrison.

Two weeks ago at the National Press Club, ABC political editor Andrew Probyn asked the Opposition Leader a lollipop of a question: “Who is Anthony Albanese?”

It was certainly a softer question than the experienced journalist asked the Prime Minister the following week but, perhaps unwittingly, it exposed the weakness that people didn’t know who Albanese was politically after more than two decades in parliament.

Albanese was overshadowed by Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard and served for six years under Bill Shorten after failing to win the leadership.

Albanese as Infrastructure Minister with then-prime minister Kevin Rudd. Picture: AAP

The question also brought into daylight the Coalition’s absolute strategic failure to make a real attempt at negatively framing Albanese in the public mind based on his political record.

For Albanese a lack of recognition and definition is part of the perfectly legitimate political strategy of keeping a low profile and minimising opportunities for critical assessment.

It is also a risk for a candidate in a presidential-style election campaign that voters may not trust an unknown or inexperienced candidate.

It is equally legitimate for Morrison to bring out a negative portrayal of his opponent, who has not hesitated for three years to blacken his name at every opportunity over the handling of the Black Summer bushfires, the Covid-19 pandemic, empathy with people in distress, debt and budget deficits, and scandalous texts. That is exactly what happened during this first sitting of the final days of the 46th parliament as Morrison switched strategy and baited Albanese to “bring on” a test of character between the two.

Morrison accused Albanese of “misrepresenting the facts” on the government’s Covid response and demanded he “stop trying to politicise the pandemic” with his “snarling and growling”.

Josh Frydenberg produced detailed scare campaigns about Albanese’s history of supporting the carbon and mining taxes in the Rudd-Gillard years and proposing soak-the-rich taxes aimed at business, higher-income earners, family investors and even death duties.

The Treasurer is desperate to turn political debate away from dispiriting and divisive fights over lurid texts and the shemozzle that has become the religious freedom proposals.

Acting like someone who felt the negative story on Albanese has been left too late to tell, Frydenberg taunted him continually about never holding a Treasury portfolio – even when deputy prime minister for three months under Rudd, Albanese was not treasurer or finance minister.

“The reality is, when it comes to economic management, the leader of the Labor Party cannot be trusted. He stands for higher spending, like a $6bn cash splash,” Frydenberg yelled to parliament before Albanese got to his feet and later accused Frydenberg of lying.

Frydenberg has continued his tax attack on the Opposition Leader all week, with a list of Albanese’s support for proposals for a traffic congestion tax, a housing tax, a carbon tax and a flat tax for higher income earners.

“They talk a big game in opposition but deliver little in government,” Frydenberg said on Thursday.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton – now, as Albanese was once, the Leader of the House in charge of parliamentary question time – revisited Labor’s failure to honour the undertaking to turn back people-smugglers’ boats and allowing 50,000 illegal arrivals.

Paradoxically, while the Coalition’s plan is to downplay Albanese’s experience in government, Dutton also sought to highlight Albanese’s participation in the Rudd-Gillard governments as a negative on border protection, defence spending and regional security.

The Defence Minister also stretched the barriers on security policy by raising intelligence concerns about Chinese interference in Australia’s election, and Albanese rejected any inferences as unacceptable as he asked the Speaker to seek a briefing from intelligence chiefs to assist his rulings.

Peter Dutton has sought to highlight Albanese’s participation in the Rudd-Gillard governments as a negative on border protection, defence spending and regional security.Picture: NCA Newswire/Gary Ramage

This is all a result of the Coalition’s conscious decision in recent days to start to turn a searing light on to Albanese’s own record after he has been so successful in characterising Morrison as a marketing man who is there for there for “the photo op but never the follow up” and who does “too little too late”.

It is an act of desperation, but that makes it no less legitimate in wanting to have Albanese face scrutiny for his record after more than 20 years at the highest level of politics and government.

For his part Albanese is trying to dismiss the attacks as rants and fantasy; to deflect the discussion away from the economy, tax and jobs; and to continue to portray Morrison as failing his job as Prime Minister and leading a dysfunctional government.

After Labor, the Greens and crossbenchers, plus Liberal defectors, had forced amendments on the proposals for religious freedom and sexual discrimination that defeated the promised intent of the bill, Albanese was quick to claim “a rare” parliamentary win on the floor of the House of Representatives over the government of the day.

Albanese and his girlfriend Jodie Haydon at the Australian Open mens’ final in January. Picture: Arsineh Houspian

Of course, Morrison suffered a serious setback because of the defeat of the bill, but Labor’s parliamentary victory with the Greens still has the potential to be portrayed in those critical so-called seats of faith as Labor being opposed to religious freedom.

Pursuing the pandemic problems in aged care, the embarrassment of leaked texts critical of the Prime Minister, an agenda of protecting women at work, a lack of anti-corruption laws and avoiding the economy, the Opposition Leader is trying not to be drawn into an economic debate or out of his small-target comfort zone.

There are now only seven sitting days before the election, including a budget, but in that time Morrison is intent on painting as dark a picture of Albanese the politician as he can as time runs out.

At the same time Albanese has to project himself in a way that doesn’t draw him into damaging debates on economic trust to maintain his small-target strategy while trying to ensure there is enough of an authentic alternative for prime minister for the public to give him real support.